Spirit transfer means in hand operated address printing machines

ABSTRACT

This invention relates to a hand operable addressing machine of the spirit transfer type comprising a chassis having a handle at the rear end, and hinged at the forward end on the axis of a running roller, said chassis carrying an impression roller beneath the handle, a housing supporting a reservoir for the spirit, a wetting roll at the rear end of the housing and a wick between the reservoir and the wetting roll, said housing being also hinged at the forward end on the axis of the running roller and supported at the rear end by the wetting roller, and coil springs about the axis of the running roller operating to depress the housing so that the wetting roller runs in the same plane as the running roller and raise the rear end of the chassis so that the impression roller is in spaced relation with that plane.

United States Patent Hunter [72] inventor: Albert A. J. Hunter, Tarrystone,

Hamshades Lane, Whitstable, Fmgland v [22] Filed: April 3, 1970 i [21] Appl. No.: 25,381

[52] US. Cl ..101/133 [51] Int. Cl. ..B4ll 11/00 [58] Field of Search ..l0l/l33, 134.5,48, 49, 130, 101/131, 250, 147, 148

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,222,275 4/1917 Fecher ..101/133 1,538,154 5/1925 Alexander ..101/133 1,717,865 6/1929 Williams ..101/133 1,962,671 6/1934 Sauer ..101/133 51 Aug. 15, 1972 Primary Examiner-William B. Penn Attorney-Ostrolenk, Faber, Gerb & Soffen ABSTRACT This invention relates to a hand operable addressing machine of the spirit transfer type comprising a'chassis having a handle at the rear end, and hinged at the forward end on the axis of a running roller, said chassis carrying an impression roller beneath the handle, a housing supporting a reservoir for the spirit, a wetting roll at the rear end of the housing and a wick between the reservoir and the wettiiig roll, said housing being also hinged at the forward end on the axis of the running roller and supported at the rear end by the wetting roller, and coil springs about the axis of the running roller operating to depress the housing so that the wetting roller runs in the same plane as the running roller and raise the rear end of the chassis so that the impression roller is in spaced relation with that plane.

6 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures P'A'TENTEDAUB 1 5 m2 SHEET 1 or 3 IN VENT OR 45207 4 U! HZ/A/IZQ ATTORNEYS PATENTED ms 1 5 1972 saw a nr 3 IN VE N TOR Q ALAEE'T All Hl/A/TEQ PATENTEU 3,683,804

SHEET 3 BF 3 IN VE N TOR ALBEQT A J- A DA/TEE SPIRIT TRANSFER MEANS IN HAND OPERATED ADDRESS PRINTINGMACHINES This invention relates to addressing machines of the spirit transfer type and wherein a small area of the surface of a sheet of paper or the like on which an address is required to be imprinted, is moistened with spirit fluid, e.g., methyl alcohol, and a master address sheet pressed against the moistened surface to transfer the address from the master sheet to the receiving sheet.

A main object of the present invention is to provide an improved addressing machine of the spirit transfer type which is hand operable on an office desk or table to produce impressed sheets or envelopes resting on an office table or desk.

. A further main object of the invention is to provide an addressing machine of the spirit transfer type which is hand operable and wherein the application of spirit fluid to a receiving sheet is followed immediately by the application of a master address sheet under hand pressure to the wetted receiving sheet in a single passage of the machine over the sheet or the like.

The expression addressing machines is intended to refer to such machines but is not restricted to impressing addresses, the expression is intended to include other messages which may be impressed on stationery for example brief instructions of any kind and which may be of different colors depending on the color of the carbon paper used.

According to the present invention a hand operable addressing machine of the spirit transfer type comprises a chassis having a handle at the rear end, and hinged at the forward end on the axis of a running roller, said chassis carrying an impression roller beneath the handle, a housing supporting a reservoir for the spirit, a wetting roll at the rear end of the housing, and a wick between the reservoir and thewetting roll, said housing being also hinged at the forward end on the axis of the running roller and supported at the rear end by the wetting roller, and coil springs about the axis of the running roller operating to depress the housing so that the wetting roller runs in the same plane as the running roller and raise the rearend of thechassis so that the impression roller is in spaced relation with that plane.

By using such a machine the application of the wetting roller to a receiving sheet and the application of pressure to a master address sheet inserted between the wetting and impression roller of the machine is effected during a single continuous traverse of the machine over the impression area.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the

running roller is rotatably supported by the chassis of the machine at the front end thereof and the impression roller is supported at the rear end of the chassis, but the wetting roller is spring-loaded and mounted in a housing on which the bias takes effect, the housing, by its side walls, being hinged within the chassis and coaxially with the running roller.

Thus, the machine comprises a chassis and a relatively movable housing, the housing supporting the wetting roller and the reservoir, which latter is provided with a plurality of capillary holes communicating with afelt wick extending between the reservoir and the rear surface of the wetting roller, which may be either of flexible material such as rubber or of stainless steel. The felt wick is snugly located between the inside of the roof of the housing and a support plate secured to the side walls of the housing, one end fitting firmly against the reservoir and the other firmly against the wetting roller.

The wetting roller is resiliently pressed downward by a coil spring comprising bifurcated arms connected by a bridge, each bifurcated arm including a coil located on the respective end of the axle of the running roller, one limb of each bifurcated arm bearing against the chassis and the other limb merging into the bridge which in turn bears on the roof of the housing within which the wetting roller and the reservoir are mounted.

Thus the spring coils are located between the chassis and the housing and the axle of the running roller is a hinge pin in the forward end of the chassis on which hinge pin the housing is biased downwards at the rear end. i

The impression roller is rotatably located in the chassis on the side of the wetting roller remote from the running roller also mounted in the chassis and is spaced rearwardly of the wetting roller. A handle by which the machine is operated is formed integrally with the chassis and the latteris shaped with respect to the housing as to allow a master address sheet to be passed between the rear end of the housing and the impression roller.

The balance of the machine constructed according to the present invention is such that when placed on a receiving sheet, the traverse of the machine over the surface of the receiving sheet will wet an area of the sheet with spirit fluid deposited by the wetting roll. During the forward passage of the machine over the receiving sheet, a master sheet is passed down over the chassis and housing so that the leading edge of the master sheet meets the wetted area of the receiving sheet and the impression roller is advanced over the master sheet by hand pressure so that an impression of the address from the master sheet is transferred to the wetted area of the receiving sheet. t

The impression to be produced on the receiving sheet is originally produced on a master address sheet by means of hecto graph carbon paper, each print removes a small portion of the carbon from the master sheet, the spirit fluid used is preferably methyl alcohol.

The master address sheet may advantageously be in the form of a label being part of a strip of such labels and from which each label may be easily detached before use. The strip will have one adhesive coated face covered by an easily strippable protection strip weakened sectionally to limit removal to the length of the label. The master address label thus constituted will then have a carbon applied to it, the coated face of the carbon facing the adhesive coated. face of the label, the

associated label and carbon then being fed into a typewriter, and the address typed on the label. Thereafter the carbon is stripped off the label and the a label fed, as the master address sheet, to the impression roller of the machine.

In order that the invention may be more clearly understood a preferred embodiment thereof will now be described by way of example'with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings, in which:

FIGS. 4 to 6 are to a smaller scale than FIGS. 1 and 2 and show successive positions of the machine in making a single traverse over a sheet of receiving paper under operative conditions which produce the required impression on the receiving paper.

In the drawings the same reference numerals designate the same parts.

The structural part of the machine comprises a chassis 1 mounted on a running roller 2, a housing 3 hinged at the forward end on the axle 4 of the roller 2 as hereinafter explained, said housing being resiliently supported at the rearward end on a wetting roller 5. The chassis 1 extends rearwardly of the wetting roller 5 to carry an impression roller 6 and merges into a handle 7 which is returned over the chassis somewhat beyond midway thereof.

The handle 7 is particularly formed .to be easily gripped by hand, affect a downward pressure on the impression roller 6, so that it is running in the same plane as the wetting and running rollers as the machine is urged forward under a forwardly directed component of the downward pressure on the handle.

The depressed position of the handle 7 and the impression roll 6 is shown in chain lines in FIG. 3.

Under the roof of the housing 3 is secured a reservoir 8 holding a spirit fluid, preferably methyl alcohol, the surface level of which is indicated at 9, and means for transferring the alcohol as required to the wetting roller 5 consisting of a wick 10 of felt.

The reservoir is provided with capillary outlets 11 which lead to the forward end of the wick and the wick is firmly held against the outlets 11 by a supporting plate 12, which plate is humped as clearly shown in FIG. 3 to further regulate rate of flow of fluid through the wick and also to snugly hold the middle area of the wick against the roof and the rearward end of the wick firmly against the wetting roller 5.

The capillary feed of the fluid ensures even distribution thereof without flooding or undue wetting of the receiving sheet.

The predetermined resilient pressure applied to the wetting roller 5 is derived from coil springs mounted on the axle 4 of the running roller 2 and bearing on the roof of the housing 3 to hold the wetting roller 5 in the horizontal plane tangential to the running roller 2.

More particularly the wetting roller 5 is resiliently pressed downwardly by a coil spring on each end of the axle 4, one of said coil springs being indicated at 13. Each coil spring comprises a bifurcated arm including two limbs 14 and 15, the limb 14 bears against the underside of the chassis roof at a point indicated at 16 of minimum movement about the axle 4, and the other limb is inturned and joins the corresponding limb of the spring coil 13 (not shown) at the other end of axle 4 in the form of a bridge 17, which bridge bears on top of the housing 3 and forces the housing 3 to hinge about the axle 4 and dispose the wetting roll in operational position.

By joining the limbs 15 with the bridge 17 not only is there simplicity in assembly but also an even pressure across the housing is ensured.

Thus both coils are disposed between the chassis and the housing, and the axle of the running roller 2 is in nature a hinge pin in the forward end of the chassis l, on which hinge pin the housing 3 also is hinged and not only do the coil springs 13, through their limbs 15 which form bridge 17 bear down on the housing but by the limbs 14 bearing against the chassis roof poise the chassis with the impression roller in spaced relation from the horizontal plane tangent to the running and wetting rollers, as shown in FIG. 3.

From the foregoing it will be appreciated that the chassis l is a hollow element forming a cover over the housing 3, and each is a lever pivoted on the axle 4 of the running roller 2, the rearward end of the lever which carries the reservoir 8 and wick 10 being supported on the wetting roller 5 and the rearward end of the lever comprising the handle 7 holds the impression roller 6 ready foraction. Accordingly the wetting roller has a predetermined resilient pressure whilst the impression roller is subject to a variable pressure delivered by hand on the handle 7 and remains independent of the pressure on the wetting roll 5 at all times so that transfer on to and wetting of an underlying receiving object is uniform at all times.

In FIGS. 3 to 6 the receiving sheet is indicated at 18.

The master sheet will be produced in the usual manner bymeans of hectograph carbon paper.

As shown in FIGS. 4 to 6 a master sheet 19 is introduced to the machine after pressure has been applied to the handle 7 (see FIG. 4) so that the pressure roller 6 is applied to the sheet 18 at the beginning of the traverse. The machine is then advanced in the direction of the arrow 20 (FIG. 5) so that the roller 6 is then applying the master sheet 19 to the wetted area of the sheet 18 in pristine condition, indeed the application of the master sheet 19 to the receiving sheet 18 and the fonnation of the wetted area are concomitant operations. FIG. 6 illustrates the completion of the traverse and the master sheet nearly free of the impression roller and ready'for release from the area of operation.

The reservoir 8 is provided with a neck 21 closured by a threaded stopper 22 and the reservoir filled after inverting the machine.

The present invention provides a machine of the spirit transfer type which can always be handy for immediate use anywhere in industry at any. site on any plane, the machine may be used for addressing those large envelopes difficult to use in a typeweriter, or on already made up packages where a sufficiently flat surface exists to receive information or an address by the impressing of what is required by using the machine on the package. Moreover, the machine is simple to operate and can be used to operate swiftly whenever required.

The principal features of the present invention reside.

in the portability of the machine and the single travel operation during which both fluid transfer and pressure on the master sheet over the wetted area are brought about by the spring-loading of the wetting roller and the mounting of the running and impression rollers on the chassis of the machine.

It will be appreciated that in the illustrated arrangement the wetting roller seals the rear end of the wick when the roller is stationary but entrains spirit from the wick and applies it as a film on the receiving paper when it is made to rotate, i.e., when the machine is being used. The chassis 1 may be shaped to form an abutment arresting downward movement of the handle 7 by engaging the roof of the housing 3.

I claim:

1. A hand operable machine usable for addressing, or the like, of the spirit transfer type, or the like, comprisa chassis having a front and rear end; a handle secured at said chassis rear end;

a running roller located at said chassis front end and having an operative surface oriented such that it is operative in a first direction; said running roller including a rotation axle about which said running roller rotates; said chassis being attached at said running roller axle to be pivotable with respect to said running roller; there is a first plane tangential to said running roller operative surface;

an impression roller rotatably secured at said chassis rear end and having an operative surface oriented such that it is operative in said first direction; said impression roller being movable with said chassis;

a housing also attached at said running roller axle to be pivotable with respect to said running roller; said housing extending part way back toward said chassis rear end to a rotatable wetting roller that is secured to said housing and has an operative surface oriented such that it is operative in said first direction;

a reservoir adapted to contain spirit fluid, or the like; said reservoir being supported on said housing; a wick means between said reservoir and said wetting roller;

coil spring means positioned at said running roller axle; said coil spring means including one limb that presses upon said housing to depress said housing so that said wetting roller third operative surface runs in said first plane, and including another limb that presses upon said chassis to pivot said chassis rear end in .a direction opposite the pivoting direction of said housing to raise said chassis rear end so that said impression roller is normally in spaced relationship to said first plane.

2. The hand operable machine of claim 1, wherein said coil spring means comprises a coil spring at each end of said running roller axle; each said spring passes about said axle and includes bifurcated limbs, one of which said limbs bears against said chassis and the other of which said limbs bears against said housing.

3. The hand operable machine of claim 2, wherein said other limb of each said coil spring is inturned to face toward the said other limb of the other said coil spring and the said other limbs of both said coil springs merge to form a bridge extending across and engaging said housing.

4. The hand operable machine of claim I. wherein said handle extends from said chassis rear end over said chassis toward said chassis front end.

5. The hand operable machine of claim 1, wherein said reservoir and said wetting roller are spaced a distance apart and said wick extends'between them; said reservoir having an outlet comprised of a series of capillary apertures;

and further comprising a plate firmly secured in said housing and shaped so as to support one end of said wick against said reservoir outlet and the other end of said wick firmly against said wetting roller;

6. A .hand operable machine according to claim 5 wherein said supporting plate is humped to further moderate rate of fluid flpw ihro ugh said wetting roller. 

1. A hand operable machine usable for addressing, or the like, of the spirit transfer type, or the like, comprising: a chassis having a front and rear end; a handle secured at said chassis rear end; a running roller located at said chassis front end and having an operative surface oriented such that it is operative in a first direction; said running roller including a rotation axle about which said running roller rotates; said chassis being attached at said running roller axle to be pivotable with respect to said running roller; there is a first plane tangential to said running roller operative surface; an impression roller rotatably secured at said chassis rear end and having an operative surface oriented such that it is operative in said first direction; said impression roller being movable with said chassis; a housing also attached at said running roller axle to be pivotable with respect to said running roller; said housing extending part way back toward said chassis rear end to a rotatable wetting roller that is secured to said housing and has an operative surface Oriented such that it is operative in said first direction; a reservoir adapted to contain spirit fluid, or the like; said reservoir being supported on said housing; a wick means between said reservoir and said wetting roller; coil spring means positioned at said running roller axle; said coil spring means including one limb that presses upon said housing to depress said housing so that said wetting roller third operative surface runs in said first plane, and including another limb that presses upon said chassis to pivot said chassis rear end in a direction opposite the pivoting direction of said housing to raise said chassis rear end so that said impression roller is normally in spaced relationship to said first plane.
 2. The hand operable machine of claim 1, wherein said coil spring means comprises a coil spring at each end of said running roller axle; each said spring passes about said axle and includes bifurcated limbs, one of which said limbs bears against said chassis and the other of which said limbs bears against said housing.
 3. The hand operable machine of claim 2, wherein said other limb of each said coil spring is inturned to face toward the said other limb of the other said coil spring and the said other limbs of both said coil springs merge to form a bridge extending across and engaging said housing.
 4. The hand operable machine of claim 1, wherein said handle extends from said chassis rear end over said chassis toward said chassis front end.
 5. The hand operable machine of claim 1, wherein said reservoir and said wetting roller are spaced a distance apart and said wick extends between them; said reservoir having an outlet comprised of a series of capillary apertures; and further comprising a plate firmly secured in said housing and shaped so as to support one end of said wick against said reservoir outlet and the other end of said wick firmly against said wetting roller.
 6. A hand operable machine according to claim 5 wherein said supporting plate is humped to further moderate rate of fluid flow through said wetting roller. 